Interviews/Bill Ostwald

Bill Ostwald. January 2001.

Is there a win or loss that you particularly remember?
That's a hard one to answer because it took place over a period of six, seven years. There is no certain win. There are certain places we played that are more colorful than others. Certainly the tradition of playing Green Bay on New Year's Eve in the Brown County Arena, with the teams so evenly matched, stands out in my mind. The first few years, maybe 66-69, we won most of those Green Bay games, not all, but most. But I can't say there was a particular win that stands out.

What players, including opponents, stand out in your mind?
Bill Masterson. He was a player, from St. Paul I believe, who played against us for a number of years. I believe there is still a National Hockey League trophy given every year in his name...Brian Lunney, without question was probably the finest goaltender that we had seen...and people like Bobby Cox. He was here for four years I think. He was a tremendous talent... Wayne McQuaig: He easily could have played in the National Hockey League. He was something else. Jerry Sullivan was an All-American and then came to play with us. He was one of those guys that you didn't even know was on the ice until the end of the game when you realized he had two goals and two assists or something like that. He was a scoring machine.

You haven't mentioned any Green Bay players...
...Oh, I thought you wanted Rangers, people who I played with...

...no, no. I do. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Well, just to get to that. Everybody in Marquette remembers Gordie Yewman and Fuzzy Frenette. They were the two that always wanted to battle and fight and started brawls wherever they went. But in terms of quality players the one, or two, that I clearly remember were Paul Coppo of Green Bay, and there was John Mayasich. I believe he was an All-American at Minnesota before he went to Green Bay. There was a defenseman who played for Waterloo that I was always intrigued with. He was good. He wasn't in the same category as the ones I mentioned before, but he played with one eye. He was blind in one eye. He had to play with a face shield. Obviously we were all intrigued with that simply because one mistake, and he would lose his sight all together.

Oh, there was a colorful character in Waterloo named Finnerdy in Waterloo that was a crowd favorite in Waterloo. He was pretty wild when he came up and played other teams. He had, in those days, hair flying out all over the place. He was pretty much out of control , most of the time. I'm not sure that he was an outstanding hockey player, but he certainly was a crowd pleaser in Waterloo for their fans.

I want to make sure that I've mentioned everybody on Marquette that was a step above. There were a number of people from 65-69 on those teams. Henry Ackerville came and played for a couple of years. He was certainly an outstanding defenseman. A lot of people don't realize that Rick Comely played for us for a short time. Ozzie O'Neill was, you know, you talk about local players. There weren't many Marquette players that actually played on a regular shift at that time. But Ozzie was an exception. He was not only playing but was up near the top of the scoring in the league. Dale Beerman...Floyd Sommers...Jimmy Jacobson...very good players. I'm sure there are others but right now those are the ones that come to mind.

What is the story as to how you got on the team?
I was sitting on a [team] bus, and one of the men on that team was the only American in the entire league. And he was from the Copper Country. His name was Tony Buchovich. Everybody's heard about the Buchovich brothers from the Copper Country. Well he told me about this league that would put you through school...would pay your way through school if you came and played hockey with them. Well, he wrote down two names on a piece of paper; one was John Mayasich in Green Bay, and the other was Oakie Brumm in Marquette.

A month later the league ended, the season ended, and I went back to my home in Winnipeg. I was twenty-one, I knew I wasn't going to play in the National Hockey League. I had dropped out of high school because I was going to be a hockey player, so I had no diploma. Anyway, I wrote to those guys, and the only one who responded was Oakie. Basically the text of the letter was that if you come to Marquette to play hockey for us...in those days they paid all my tuition and room and board. So I wrote to the University and was accepted on probation because I hadn't received a high school diploma...Anyway I was accepted by Northern. I just pulled in to town. They were pretty shocked that I had done that [applied to college] on my own, and I said, "Here I am." So they got an apartment...they helped me get an apartment. They paid the money for the room and board and tuition.
Now, without exaggeration, not only had I never heard of Marquette, but I had to use the map to get from Winnipeg through the northern United States. I had just gotten married, and I had a trailer with everything I owned. My first house was on Oak Street. In fact it was the Hansons, Grandma and Grandpa Hanson, and my wife that shared that house for two years. I played for the Iron Rangers and, you know, picked up odd jobs. So, anyway, it was a funny way of getting here, but that's how many of us came here...

Can you say anything about the fans in the Palestra at that time?
It was an interactive game. It's not like today where you have the glass separating the fans. There was a wire meshing at the end so nobody would get hit by a slap shot or puck going wide of the net. All down the boards the fans sat right up to the boards. I mean there was absolutely nothing separating the fans and the players. It was quite common, especially with a team like Green Bay, for a major brawl to be in the stands between the Green Bay players and the fans, where Marquette's finest would have to come and haul the fans away.

There were police at the games?
Oh, were there police? There were fights in the penalty box. The fans would jump in the box trying to help the Iron Rangers, and of course the fans would get punched. And, oh yeah, Green Bay would go up four or five rows with all their equipment on saying somebody was throwing something or spitting on them. And pretty soon a couple police officers would come.
Keep in mind that the Palestra was so cold that many fans had... done some celebrating before the game. I don't want to say all, but many of them, without question. It was Friday night, they had worked hard, and they had come to cheer on their Iron Rangers.
So what was different was that they were part of the game. Fans would literally try to grab [opposing] players going down the boards. Often you'd have someone try to reach out and grab the stick out of their hands or something like that. It was…it was pretty wild. I remember coming to the game, and we had to be there at least an hour before game time. There would be a line out to Fair Avenue with people trying to get tickets for literally thirty or forty-five minutes.

Are there any stories that you can recall that exemplify how hockey was different back then as compared to now?
…Oh boy…Well…One thing that was different, and it was almost like a Catch-22…We didn't wear, when I came here, we didn't wear helmets. The goalie didn't wear a face mask. That was a risk because obviously, like Bill Masterson died, and I'm not suggesting that we go back to no helmets. But now we've got helmets with a full face shield. We weren't that nice to them in those days, but believe it or not, you didn't get as 'chippy' or dirty, because if you did something to somebody they were probably…you were probably going to have to fight them. And sometimes the referee would let two guys go. They wouldn't always break it up. It was more of a sense that you had to back, be able to back, up what you were 'yabbering' or what you were doing…
The other difference today, quite frankly, is that the players of today are much bigger and stronger. I mean with the advent of weight machines and training, and all-year training. I think of that somewhat enviously. Training for us was a good steak, and that's, of course, probably the worst thing you can eat…

What were some high points about those Ranger years? Low Points?
Oh, that's similar to your other question about...

...yes, about the wins and losses.
Low points for me...well now if I told you these stories you're going to be laughing. But it was a low point. Oh, the thing was practically retired. We would fly single engine planes to away games for awhile. We would fly over Lake Superior to Thunder Bay. And that...I was so uptight by the time I, and many others, not everybody. By the time we got to the rink in Thunder Bay...because we flew from Marquette in one single-engine over the lake. We knew there was a period of time over the lake...and loaded when you had all of the players and their equipment...so you'd take about four single-engine planes and fly over there. I was so uptight by the time that we got to the rink. About the second period I would loosen up and start playing better hockey. And in the third period I'd start thinking about getting on the plane again...
We had a game in Waterloo and I got in my plane after the game...

...which way is Waterloo?
Waterloo is Iowa.

Oh. Oh. OK. I was thinking Canada.
I was sitting in the cock pit, The co-pilot's seat, and we were in a storm. Anyway, this guy...you know...I didn't know anything about flying, but I'm pretty good about knowing people...and I could read his eyes. And we were...he was pointing the nose up, radioing the other planes saying, "I can't get it above whatever the altitude they wanted." They said, "Well, you gotta get outta here...out of that and up above where it's clear." So he would put the nose up-and I'd be watching the altimeter-and it was going down. We were going like this [demonstrates with hand the action of the plane going down while the nose remains in the air]. And I wasn't too alarmed then because I figured he'd eventually know what he was doing. But these were those pilots that they hired, so you didn't know their backgrounds. Well, to make a long story short, this guy ended up calling May Day on the radio trying to whisper so the guys in back couldn't hear. But I'm sitting right here , and he's going, "May Day. This is a May Day. I don't know where I am." And meanwhile there's ice and snow all around. Well we made an emergency landing with fire trucks on the ground with the lights going around. And that was in Eau Claire...I'm trying to think of Waterloo to Eau Claire and how far we got. So, we made an emergency landing, we fixed up the plane, and believe it or not two-and-a-half hours later we were back in the air again...on the same plane! We had to follow the street lights in the towns the rest of the way back we were flying so low.

I was just going to say, "Can you say anything about the road trips to different cities?"
Well there's part of it: the flying experience. And you know, the bus was a factor. We, they had an old bus that no one in the history of man would ever go on. Let's see, what comes to mind? Well, first of all the big card games in the back of the bus. I remember, literally, there would be carbon or something coming into the bus. We would get off the bus, and our faces would be all black. You know you'd have a white shirt on with a line where you were covered because of all the soot…

#2 diesel fuel…
Yeah, whatever. I remember going to the Soo for a game, it was about 30 below, and there was no heat on the bus coming home. So one of the players was from the Soo got a taxi and made arrangements through his mom, somehow, and we got 35…you know a moving truck with moving blankets? We were all wrapped in those blankets on that bus!